This week's "Five on the Rise," five teams destined to make it past Simon and onto the stage:

1. Wheatland boys basketball: A pair of important victories last week -- by 13 on the road over top-ranked Buffalo and by 12 at home against No. 3 Newcastle -- have the Bulldogs in control of the 3A East.

2. Evanston girls basketball: Last weekend wasn't supposed to be easy for the Red Devils. It wasn't, but two hard-fought victories, including one over top-ranked Sheridan, made the effort worth it. Evanston has now won seven in a row and has this weekend off before starting 4A West play.

3. Lingle wrestling: A 4-1 performance at the Burns Duals bodes well for the Doggers, who have been solid so far this season and could cause a ton of problems for teams at regionals and state if they continue to improve.

4. Jackson alpine skiing: The Bronc girls absolutely dominated the first meet of the season, winning the Britt Farr Memorial in Casper by 70 points (Jackson had 133; runner-up Natrona had 63). The boys made a statement of their own, holding off hard-charging (and two-time defending state champion) Natrona County on Saturday to notch a win in meet No. 1.

5. The 3A West girls basketball teams: Take a look at those standings. Of the eight teams, five of them are 3-1 or better. Whichever team ends up winning that conference will have had to fight awfully hard to do so.

That's it for now. Add other solid weekends to the comments section...

Posted by patrick.schmiedt@trib.com